Women's Track & Field Ready for Redemption at This Weekend's Heps

PRINCETON, N.J. (2/21/13) - The
Princeton women's track and field team looks to return to the top of the podium
as the 2013 Ivy League Heptagonal Championship takes place this weekend, Feb.
22 & 23 at Harvard.

Princeton had a three-year indoor
streak halted last year by Columbia. It was one of the most disappointing
weekends for Princeton last year as the Tigers finished sixth.

Princeton is one of the top
contenders this year, owning the top mark in four events along with Columbia.
Only Harvard has more with five. Cornell and Dartmouth have three top marks apiece.

SPRINTS & HURDLES
Senior Abidemi Adenikinju, senior
Erin Guty and sophomore Joanna Anyanwu will be the Tigers' best chances in the
short sprints. They each have marks in the top 20 and Adenikinju has been a
scorer before in the event, placing fifth as a freshman. In the 60 hurdles,
junior Beth McKenna has potential as she has hit a PR twice already this
season, most recently clocking a 9.05 at HYP.

Sophomore Cecilia Barowki has the
best time in the league in the 400 and ranks fourth in the league in the 200. She
ran the 200 just once this year and has the fourth-best time in the league at
24.77. Her main event is the 400. Barowski clocked a PR of 54.75 at HYP, just
missing the school record. She was the runner-up in the event during the
outdoor Heps.

Guty is a contender in the 200 as
well, ranking in the top 10 with a 25.03. Other contenders in the 200 are
Adenikinju and freshman Sara Ronde.

Senior Joie Hand and freshman Meghan
McMullin also have the potential to score in the 400. Hand has been a scorer in
the 400 hurdles and has run PRs each time she has run the 400 flat this season.

MIDDLE DISTANCE & DISTANCE
Four of the top 10 marks in the
800 belong to Tigers. Senior Greta Feldman boasts the best time at 2:08.78, the
only runner in the league to run under 2:09. Senior Alexis Mikaelian is fifth
at 2:09.79, followed by senior Kristin Smoot at 2:11.59 and senior Melissa
Zajdel at 2:11.70.

Princeton also has four of the
top 10 marks in the mile. Feldman ranks sixth at 4:45.44 with senior Mel
Newbery running a 4:47.60 followed by Mikelian at 4:49.30 and sophomore Emily
de La Bruyere at 4:51.04.

de La Bruyere has Princeton's
best time in the 3000 at 9:26.62. She was a scorer during the outdoor season in
the steeplechase.

Sophomore Jackie Nicholas and
senior Abby Levene also rank in the top 10 in the event, both with times under
9:35. The pair also provide the Tigers' best times in the 5000. Nicholas' time
of 16:33.69 is third in the league. Freshman Lindsay Eysenbach is a potential
scorer as well.

RELAYS
The 4x800 relay has won in each
of the last three indoor Heps. The Tigers enter the meet with the second-best
time in the league. Junior Molly Higgins, junior Kacie O'Neil, Smoot and
Mikaelian ran 9:04.43 at HYP. The 4x800 relay was second last year. The relay
of Zajdel, Feldman, Barowski and Hand clocked a 3:46.08 at HYP to sport the
third-best time in the league.

THROWS
It will be a battle in the weight
throw between freshman Julia Ratcliffe and Adabelle Ekechukwu of Harvard. Both
reset Ivy League records this season. Ratcliffe set the mark twice to start the
season with her best throw reaching 19.74. Ekecukwu found 20.11 at HYP two
weeks ago. Junior Chelsea Cioffi could score points in the weight and shot put
as well. She has a top-10 mark in the weight at 15.26 and has thrown to 11.50
in the shot. Freshman Brielle Rowe has had the Tigers' best mark in the shot
this season and vie for a scoring spot as well.

JUMPS
Looking for a four-year sweep of
the pole vault is senior Tory Worthen. Worthen enters the meet once again with
the top mark in the league at 4.00. She is the Ivy League record holder,
clearing 4.12 earlier in her career. Senior Lauren Tauscher has scored points
in the event in the past. She has the sixth-best height in the league at 3.70,
and was the runner-up during the outdoor season.

Junior Imani Oliver has been a
scorer in three triple jumps. She was the runner-up during the outdoor season
and has two other fourth-place finishes. Oliver has the third-best mark in the
league at 12.21 but has reached 12.49 in her career.

Three Tigers have top-10 marks in
the high jump, led by freshman Taylor Morgan. She has a mark of 1.75 in the
high jump to rank third. Junior Theresa Kennedy and freshman Inka Busack have
both cleared 1.73 in their respective careers.

In addition to her strengths in
the sprints, Guty can score in the jumps as well. She was fourth at outdoor
Heps last spring and has the fifth-best mark in the league at 5.71. Guty has
reached 5.82 in her career. Other scorers include junior Lily Miller and Ronde.

MULTI
Junior Samantha Anderson, Kennedy
and McKenna have each competed in pentathlons this season. Kennedy has the best
score, at 3289. McKenna has scored 3254 points and Anderson 2978.